[ On Mon, June 22, 1998 at 15:11:58 (-0700), Jason Thorpe wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: word processor that runs on NetBSD/i386? (FAQ?) 
>
> The Linux /proc is amazingly horrible... they're sure going to have a lot
> of fun internationalizing it.
> 
> Basically, linux /proc, instead of providing raw data for programs to
> interpret, provides pre-formatted data in English.

Only /proc/meminfo is truely horrible.  Some others have headers that
shouldn't exist.  /proc/cpuinfo is easy to internationalize (i.e. to
convert to a format that doesn't use explicit English words in places
that non-English speakers might not appreciate).

Of course none of this stuff belongs in /proc -- /kern would be far more
appropriate, but the Linux guys (or was it Linus himself) didn't want
too many mounts, so they simply merged everything into one badly named
place.  At least they saw the elegance of the "everything's a file"
concept.

The concept of /proc and /kern are *incredibly* elegant and unix-like
and I'm seriously dismayed that NetBSD hasn't moved more directly to
making them integral parts of the system with an eye to totally
eliminating the need for kernel grubbing through /dev/kmem et al and the
unsolvable user-land incompatability problems such ancient hacks have
perpetuated.

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

+1 416 443-1734      VE3TCP      <gwoods@acm.org>      <robohack!woods>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>